Andy Biggs: “I have to say, I am actually baffled a little bit because it is like we are on the other side of an ocean, an ocean…”

“I have to say, I am actually baffled a little bit because it is like we are on the other side of an ocean, an ocean separates us. I never hear my colleagues say that they want to reduce spending on any program. I never hear it. Instead, they want to continually propose big spending programs that we simply don't have money for, and then they want to do something that is actually self-defeating by increasing taxes. We have significant revenue. We just outspend the revenue. We outspend it every time. What happened after COVID? Well, I am proposing we go back to pre- COVID levels. What happened during COVID is that the Federal Reserve had to auction so many treasuries it really had to begin offering higher rates. What did that do? That fueled higher rates. Now, with rates so much higher, the bank is now forced to borrow against all its prior lending, all its prior investments, which they did at like 1 percent. Now, we are sitting at 5.3 percent. When you are doing bonds, Mr. Chair, and you know this as well as anybody, your value of your asset has decreased. That is what has happened, and it puts us in massive economic jeopardy. We have to acknowledge that. That is the reason that the Fed has incurred a net loss of $53.5 billion on interest expense, a trend that is going to continue in this quarter. Mr. Chair, I include in the Record an article by Daniel Horowitz from September 26, 2023. [From Blaze Media/Opinion & Analysis/Opinion, Sept.…”